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Indeed the scale of the mass-busk has left the brains behind the get-together, University of Nottingham student Olivia Godwin, pleasantly surprised.

The picture disc vinyl of Toto's 1982 hit single Africa

“I didn’t expect it to blow up as much as it has,” says the 19-year-old criminology and social policy undergrad. “We just set it up when we were having lunch at uni, in between lectures.”

A medley of reasons had inspired the Watford teenager to create the event. Firstly Olivia had seen similarly successful sing-alongs staged last year outside the White House (yes, that one in Washington DC), as well as in Birmingham and Newcastle.

This, married with the fact that Olivia is “obsessed” with the 80s banger and has fond memories of hearing the song while travelling around Tanzania, meant the supersize-unplugged-karaoke session was a no brainer.

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Olivia and her friends had always intended to try and raise some cash for charity as part of the event but to put their good intentions into practice they enlisted the help of project manager and charity volunteer, Rebecca Elston.

Together they decided to set up two fundraising pages for the two charities Young Citizens of Rwanda and the Rwanda Project Support Group: Jemorse and homelessness support group The Friary.

(Image: Rachel Gorman)

“If everyone who was interested just gave one pound, we could raise £3,000 for charity,” says Rebecca, 31.

Unfortunately charity buckets will not be permitted on the night so all money must be donated at either: givey.com/nottinghamtotosingers or the justgiving.com/fundraising/nottinghamtotosingers sites.

The sing-along will last approximately three minutes, with a limited number of lyric sheets available. Volunteers on the night will make sure participants do not block the road or stand on the tram tracks.

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“We politely ask that if one of the volunteers (in hi-vis jackets) asks you to move then you co-operate,” say Rebecca.

“We want this to be a fun event. I know it sounds cheesy but we want it to have that Glastonbury feeling, the feeling when you are standing in the middle of everything and feel like you are part of something bigger, something special.”

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